Question: What have our śāstras and ācāryas said about inter-caste marriage? Can we perform inter-caste marriage?
Answer: First of all, “caste” is not the correct word. The proper word is varṇa, or jāti. According to smṛti, there are two types of inter-varṇa marriage – anuloma and pratiloma. Anuloma means an upper-varṇa man marrying a lower-varṇa girl; e.g. a brāhmaṇa marrying a kṣatriya or a vaiśya girl. Pratiloma is the opposite of that.
Smṛti śāstra allows anuloma marriage, but discourages pratiloma marriage. In other words, the husband should be of the same or higher varṇa than the girl. You can refer to Manusmrti for this. Kṛṣṇa also instructs Uddhava as follows:
gṛhārthī sadṛśīṃ bhāryām udvahed ajugupsitām
yavīyasīm tu vayasā tām savarṇām anukramāt
“After completing brahmacārī āśrama, if one wants to enter gṛhasthāśrama, one should marry a girl that is suitable for oneself and is of proper character. The girl should be younger than oneself and belong to the same varṇa as oneself. [However if one wants to marry a girl other than one’s own varṇa], one should marry a girl of a lower varṇa than oneself.” (11.17.39) In this verse, the word anukramāt signifies that if one wants to marry a girl of another varṇa, she should be following (anu) one’s varṇa in order (kramāt). It means she should belong to a varṇa lower than oneself.
